An Integrated and Sustainable Transport Network

Speech by Peter Black delivered to Plenary on Wed 25th Jun 2008

Peter Black: I wish to thank Alun Davies, particularly, for his support on the cross-border issues. It is important that we start to tackle those; it seems to be something of an anachronism where you have free bus passes in England, and free bus passes in Wales, but cannot travel between the two countries using a common bus pass. That needs to be on the agenda for discussions between the two Governments, and should be resolved as soon as possible.

Ann Jones: I wish to put on the record that Arriva buses allows passengers in north Wales to travel to Chester to do their shopping; I believe that, at the last count, Chester was in England. Therefore, we have some cross-border arrangements.

Peter Black: Thank you, Ann. I believe that it is also possible to travel to Shrewsbury from parts of Powys, but the issue is that, if you are travelling to England as a Welsh man or woman, and you have a free bus pass, you cannot get on a bus anywhere in England and travel; that applies to anyone living in Wales. People from Swansea are not able to take advantage of your service to Chester, or even the service to Shrewsbury, but they may want to go on holiday to England, and they may want to make use of their free bus pass.

Many people have seen massive improvements to their lives as a result of these free bus passes. They have been able to get out and about in a way that they have not been able to before, and they have been able to travel to places that they have not been able to go to previously. Many of them would appreciate it if they were able to use that free bus pass in England in the same way as it is used in Wales, and vice versa. Many people come to Wales on holiday, including many pensioners. If they were able to use their English bus pass here, we might find that a lot of money would go to the different attractions that they would be able to travel to visit.

Kirsty Williams referred to the local transport services grant. I support what she said about the need to make a decision and an announcement on this as soon as possible. In my region, last year that was worth £0.5 million to Swansea, £0.5 million to Neath Port Talbot, and just over £400,000 to Bridgend-that is £1.4 million being spent in my region on bus services, money that local councils at currently covering until that grant is announced. It may well be that there is not a problem and that the grant will be announced and everything will be hunk-dory, but I believe that everyone would appreciate it if we knew exactly how much money the councils were going to get, so that they were able to spend that money on those bus services, and consider whether or not they were able to build any growth into the situation, or even just revamp the way that they are spending that money, so as to improve the service level in a particular area. That needs to be sorted out as soon as possible, and, like Kirsty, I hope that the Deputy Minister will have an announcement on that today.

Previous speakers have thanked Kirsty for not having a go at the Tories, although Alun Davies did have a go at them. However, I wish to refer to the Transport Act 1985, which undermined bus services in this country. When that Act came in, a flurry of different operators came on board to compete for routes; in some areas, there was an improvement in service. However, that has settled down to create several monopoly private sector providers, which are using their economic power to exclude any competition on lucrative routes, and then using the grant that is available from local councils to deliver the socially desirable services. I believe that the Transport Act 1985 is no longer fit for purpose, and I am happy to support the legislation that Huw Lewis is currently putting through the Assembly. However, despite Alun Davies's rhetoric, and despite the fact that we have had over 10 years of Labour Government, they have not even attempted to reverse that Act. It is a credit to Huw Lewis that he has come forward to do that, even though he is doing it as a private Member, and not from the Welsh Assembly Government; that is noteworthy.

Labour sometimes has a schizophrenic view of bus services. In Swansea, for example, the Welsh Assembly Government funded the bus lanes for the metro buses, which I believe will be introduced later this year, or early next year, on the suggestion of a Labour Minister, and have then spent the last few years attacking the decision to do it. It may have been because it was a Liberal-Democrat-led council that was implementing a Labour Government grant, but I still believe that that sort of investment and the investment that Swansea council has put into its bus lanes, again supported by an Assembly Government transport grant, has led to a viable asset and is something that is worth doing. In conclusion, I hope that we support this motion and get a more holistic view of bus services, which are better funded and better supported.